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Summer Visit - 2025 - IMPULS

The summer visit to Caltech is 4 days long and is the only time during the year of work when all the participants on the team come together in person to work intensively on the data. Generally, each educator may bring up to two students to the summer visit that are paid for by NITARP, and they may raise funds to bring two more. The teams work at Caltech; the summer visit typically includes a half-day tour of JPL, which is a favorite site for group photos. Reload to see a different set of quotes.

The IMPULS team came to visit in July 2025. The 4 core team educators attended, plus 6 students.

Quotes

  • The most interesting thing was probably the people: for the team to meet each other, to hear the stories of your IPACmates, and to be able to chat with them over donuts. “Scientist” seems like such a vague, far-away concept (especially for students, but for me, too), that it’s always fascinating to hear that they’re (usually) normal folks just a few different decisions from where we ended up. I think it was a great and eye-opening opportunity for our students to realize that, no matter where they come from, no matter what unique talents they may have, they could find a place for themselves in the science community.
  • [The most surprising thing was] Definitely that we all could build up the confidence in areas we didn’t feel confident in so quickly. The ability to be told “go for it, here is the task” so early on truly wasn’t anticipated and then building each other’s confidence and working collaboratively was something I didn’t expect so soon.
  • The work we carried out during the visit can NOT be done online. Having each other right there on hand to talk through and experience the work together was invaluable. It was not enough time, frankly. [We] are much closer and more at ease collaborating than we were before the trip. We feel comfortable calling each other and talking through the results we are getting.
  • I was impressed by how our team (teachers and students alike) were up for the challenge. They had some long days and were exhausted by the time they went home, but they really embraced the project and seem excited to see where it leads.
  • For me, “real astronomy” was rolling up my sleeves and wrestling with the data. Sitting with the team and Luisa as she walked through the light-curve pipelines, typing in commands, and troubleshooting in real time. That was when I felt like a genuine researcher. It was in the back-and-forth of asking “Why is this flux point off?” and watching her reproduce the exact steps on her screen. That hands-on, collaborative number crunching! The collective “aha!” when a curve suddenly made sense. That's real astronomy.

Related Teams

Summer Visit - 2025 - IMPULS